Swine flu update

The last week has been very interesting!  

Here are some highlights:

•  All schools have been closed, in the entire country, until May 6th .  (May 4th and 5th were a holiday anyway)

•  All public venues have been closed (museums, archeological sites, soccer games, etc.).  Some private venues also closed.

•  On Thursday and Friday, restaurants were asked to close (some did, some didn't).  Before that, they were asked to only provide food for take-out.

•  In a restaurant in Cuernavaca, the owner told us that the government has banned the sale of alcohol in some restaurants (if people drink, they stay longer in one place and therefore could be infected.)

•  Some national flights have been cancelled.

•  People have been asked to stay at home.

Here are some of the rumors about how/why the virus started that we have heard from taxi drivers and the locals:

1)  The drug cartel started the virus to take the focus off of them.

2)  The Mexican government made it seem worse than it was to keep people from going to the demonstration against the privatization of Pemex (the government-owned oil company) which was suppose to happen on May 1st in the Zocalo.

3)  The US and Mexican governments caused the virus to steal all the money from the Mexican people.

4)  Presidential elections are coming up on July 5th and many people think that the virus has something to do with the elections.

5)  And finally, the most fascinating rumor:  Obama brought it with him when he came for a visit to Mexico 3 weeks ago!

When we walked in the door of the bus station to take a bus to Taxco 3 days ago, we were handed a face mask by a military officer.  After we bought our tickets and were waiting for the bus, a man handed us a colorful 3-fold flyer telling us that the most important thing we could do was wash our hands!  There was nothing in the flyer about wearing a face mask (which, by the way, is not very effective against the virus, however, the military has been handing out millions!  Some people say the masks are a way to ease people's minds.) 

Yesterday, we walked up steps for 1.5 miles to take my friend Amber to see the pyramid above the city of Tepotzlan.  We were told at the bottom, before we started, that the trail might be closed at the top.  We climbed anyway and took our chances.  About 500 yards from the pyramid, the trail was closed off by red tape with 'peligroso' (dangerous) written all over it. People were sitting around in groups, talking and eating, which was pretty amusing because the reason the pyramid was closed was to stop people from congregating in one place so that the virus wouldn't have a chance to spread!

For pictures, click on this link:  http://picasaweb.google.com/regnor11/SwineFlu#